This is the blog of Jamie Thomson, a data mangler in London working for Dunnhumby

Day 2 – DAC Framework (10 days of SSDT)

SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) was released in Spring 2012 and I have been using it to build SQL Server databases nearly every day since then. In that time I’ve learnt a lot about how to make best use of the tool and I want to share that experience in a new series of blog posts called “10 days of SSDT”. I shall be publishing a different blog post every day for 10 days, each day revealing something that you may not know about SSDT. I hope you enjoy the series and contribute via the comments!

When you install SSDT you also install something called the Data Tier Application Framework, or DAC Framework for short (sometimes also further shortened to DacFx). You can see DacFx in your list of installed programs:

DacFX is largely invisible to you but is vital if you are using SSDT. This is the software component that contains the smarts for deploying the code that you build using SSDT. It gets installed along with SSDT but also when you install SQL Server itself. In fact if you have ever used a dacpac (more on those later) then you have used DacFx. One important component of DacFx is a command-line tool called SqlPackage.exe which enables you to carry out many SSDT functions from the command-line mainly it allows you to deploy and manage dacpacs from the command-line.

There’s not much to know about DacFx except that it exists and what it exists for. Know though that it is a vital component of SSDT and much of the “smarts” are contained within it.

If you want to learn more about SSDT then come along to my training course Introduction to SQL Server Data Tools in association with Technitrain on 23rd/24th February 2015 in London. There is a discount if you register before the end of 2014.